Reader Showcase – Johann Bottos

Here we have three photographs by Johann Bottos made from medium format film negatives. They’re his first lith prints – a process I personally love (aside from the waiting that is). Lith printing is not for the faint hearted, with paper development times that can exceed half an hour (in darkness), although more normally they’re in the 7-15 minute range. The resultant prints are normally a peachy orangey colour, characterised by very hard blacks, high contrast and very positive highlight detail. Grain sprouts up everywhere, giving a unique ‘sooty’ feel. Ideal for low key photographs, it can also be used for extremely delicate high key work. Lith printing takes skill and dedication!

About the Photographs: These are photos of my first lith prints. They are all natural landscapes from three different countries, Italy, Austria and Poland.

About the Photographer: Johann Bottos was born on the 7th of October in the year 1981 in Pordenone (Italy). His first ‘true’ contact with photography came during University. After he worked for 8 years at the Electrolux Industrial Design Center as a graphic designer and senior graphic designer. In this period of time he developed a passion for landscape photography with a particular focus on alpine landscapes.Today Johann develops his own negatives and prints them manually in his darkroom.

Equipment Used:

Mamiya 7ii with 43mm lens

Many black and white films from Ilford, Efke, Kodak, Rollei, Fuji..

Lee ND grads (hard and soft), Big stopper

Coloured filters from various brands

Manfrotto 055 XPROB tripod with 804 RC2 head

Additional Information: NoneCritique Requested: YES, sure

Clouds on the Tre Cime of Lavaredo, by Johann Bottos. This is a lith print of the Tre Cime of Lavaredo, part of the Italian Dolomites.

Austrian Landscape IR, by Johann Bottos – Lith print

Reflections Narew River, by Johann Bottos. This is a lith print of an infrared photo of the Narew river in Poland taken after a heavy rainfall

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Comments

Very engaging landscapes. Not familiar with Lyth but I can see the texture on the screen. I’m sure they are more sensual than what I can see.
At first I thought the black sky in the Dolomites photo was too severe, but I think it works to frame it and riffs off the black of the peaks.
I might have darkened the foreground and lightened the mountain in the second photo to give some instruction to the eye, as I think the photo is a little weak in providing a point of attention.
In the third I would have liked a lighter range of tones in the trees to bring them out a bit.

Wow…cool to read interesting comments! These are my firts attempts with lith print..I am sure I will do better with time 🙂 Interesting to read your comment about the second photo, maybe its my limit…but I purposely sometimes (especially in the wide, more majestic landscapes) like to not have a clear focus point…it may be against the ‘traditional’ rules but I like to discover a photo a little at a time…and wander in the photo looking for something that I didn’t notice before… but I can understand that everyone has their own opinion and they are all valid to me!
About the third I can definitely accept your feedback ..I have tried few times to find a good balance especially on the right side of the photo but I have not been able yet to lighten more without damaging the feel of this photo…
Thanks George for your honest feedback!! I appreciate 🙂

I’m a big fan of lith, because its difficult to get right and the results can be quite unlike anything you can produce with regular chemistry. The first image reminds me a little of Ansel Adams’ early work in the 1920s, but in lith. It has a century old feel about it.

Although very personal, the second image is a little too ginger for my taste, but then again I always preferred the salmon pinks and cool toned blues and greys from toned lith prints and avoided ginger with my own work. Its a personal thing.

I think the absolute stand out is the last image. I largely agree with George that it would benefit from being a little lighter, but then again there is a kind of liquorice richness to it as it is. I can imagine it printed to 5×7 or 10×8 as a very low key print, but I would be very interested to see a lighter print with a bit more glow in the trees.

Thanks Tom!! 🙂 Agree with you on the second photo..I would also like to tame colour more and steer it towards the brown scale rather than yellow/orange… I will get there…soon hopefully! 🙂 Thanks for mentioning Ansel …. always most dear to me!! About the third photo…thank you… I wanted to move into the chocolate territory colour wise but I guess liquorice is good too 🙂 I agree about about fine tuning the last photo….I will try that … the perfect balance is not there yet… Thanks Tom for the comment!! 🙂

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The Author

Award-winning photographer, ex-soldier and father of two, Thomas Stanworth has spent over a decade working and photographing in trouble spots from Sierra Leone to Afghanistan. His work has been exhibited in the US, UK, Europe and Asia. Read More…

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